I would just like people to know that, while my Japanese is getting better verbally, I still can't, for the life of me, read or write in the languae. I blame the heavy number of Kanji out there. So, if any of my Japanese is wrong, PLEASE somebody inform me so that I can go back and fix it.
With that being said, enjoy the second chapter! ^^
Siren
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Chapter 2
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There was no funeral held after the death of the woman who had given birth to her new life. Well, officially, there was. However, it was so minuscule in size and she had barely even bother to remember what had went down, that there might as well not have been a funeral at all.
Her so-called new father didn't even cry after the woman's death had become final. Most people who have lost their significant other would drown themselves in a depressive state of alcohol, medicine, and or - at their worst - violence towards themselves and others. Her new father didn't fall for any of that.
Instead, he opted to shower her with unwanted attention.
⌊ 洋子ちゃん ~ ! 見てここに! ⌉ He cooed fondly beside her with a large and obviously outdated video camera pointed at her.
From her spot on their small apartment's living room carpet, she eyed him almost suspiciously as he moved around animatedly; One moment, he would stand on the seat of their couch to video tape her playing with her toy blocks from above only to jump down two seconds later to stick his butt in the air and capture her from below. It was rather daunting, at first, for such a grown man to treat even her blinking as a national treasure. Now, it was becoming borderline maddening every time he simply said her name.
⌊ 洋子ちゃん ~ ! ⌉
There. There it was again. That damnable name that has branded her before she could do anything.
重場 洋子
Juba Yoko
She had been in this body long enough to know for sure that the new language she was constantly hearing was, in fact, Japanese. And though she was only a few months old at that point, she had heard quite a few phrases long enough to know somewhat of what they might mean. It just came as common sense that her new name would be the top of that list of comprehension. The name of the man taking care of her now was second in line.
Juba Goro was his name. He was probably as normal as any other person of his age and ethnicity could be with black hair and dark brown eyes that shined behind thin frames. His skin seem to give off a natural and tanned glow, one that seemed to darken every day he took her out for their daily walks around the park near their home. Even his stature and height seemed pretty average, though at her small size, she was hardly capable of differentiating what size was deemed normal and what wasn't. There were slight traces of laugh lines around his mouth and nearly invisible wrinkles at the corners of his eyes, suggesting that his age was slowly catching up to his physical features, however it didn't take too much away from his youthful image. No, really he was just as average as any man could be.
It was that strange ability of his that threw it all off.
⌊ あ！何か君必要知っている! ⌉ Goro exclaimed suddenly, jumping up from his position on the floor and hurrying towards the other side of the apartment towards the rooms. It seemed as if his new plan of his, whatever it might have been, held too much excitement for him as he jumped head first towards the wall of her room…only to warp right through it.
Yoko didn't even blink at the disappearance of her new father. Nor did she flinch at the ruckus she heard him create on the other side of the enclosures. She had seen the strange phenomenon too many times for it to be deemed surprising to her anymore. The first time she had witnessed it, however, she was more than just bewildered. She was horrified.
It had only been a couple of days after she was sucked into this new life of hers - just a day before the funeral of the woman who forced her here occurred - when Goro showed her his ability for the first time.
On that hot summer day in June, the AC in their apartment had unexpectedly stopped working. Yoko could remember Goro's panicked reaction towards the broken machine jutting out of their window, taking her lack of crying as a sign that she was slowly dying from the heat. At least, that's what she assumed he was thinking of whenever he didn't catch her reacting in a way a normal baby would. She remembered watching him as he fiddled with the outside of the device for a while, pushing the same buttons repeatedly as if, by some miracle, it would suddenly start working again. Finally though, after a good ten minutes of failed attempts at fixing it, Goro was able to stupefy Yoko before her eyes as he phased his hand into the machine and resurrected the appliance from the inside.
It was an anomalous situation, one she had hoped never to have to experience again. She even went as far as to hoping the first time was some kind of trick her eyes played on her mind. But then, she was taken on her first outing.
Everywhere Yoko looked there were people of strange physical features passing by. Some would have more than one pair of arms or horns sticking out of their head, while others would have brightly colored skin or hair that seemed to have mind of its own. She even bore witness to people whose head was that of a shark or had tails as scaly and green like a dragon's would've been! There were others who looked just as normal as Goro did, nonetheless, though she still caught some of them practicing talents no normal person should have been capable of carrying.
They were all around her. No matter how long they walked, no matter how far Goro took her, those strange...things continued to follow her. It made her realize, with yet another earth shattering revelation, that not only was she born into a new life, in a new body, with a new name…But, perhaps she was born into a completely new world as well.
⌊ 洋子ちゃん ~ ! ⌉ Goro's voice called once again as he reappeared through the walls back into the living room.
Sliding to a stop just in front of her, he continued to hold the old video camera while his other hand was held up in excitement, his fingers dancing as if to capture her attention.
⌊ よく見る… ⌉ He spoke carefully, giving off the impression that he was instructing her to watch what he did.
Flexing his empty hand, Goro slowly turned his palm sideways…and snapped his wrist quickly, revealing a card that had most certainly not been in his possession a minute ago.
⌊ ジャジャーン! ⌉ He cheered enthusiastically, snapping his wrist again and making the card disappear once more. He continued the little trick several times, the card changing symbols and appearance each time he did it. At one point, he even reached behind her ear only to pull out a slim queen of hearts.
It was an impressive sow, she would give him that. However, she knew better than to think Goro's little magic tricks came from the help of YouTube videos or little books that came with store bought kits. It was clear that he used his phasing or warping or whatever the hell that was to help with this newfound entertainment, something that would've seemed ludicrous if she were to explain it to someone in the world she knew didn't have such strange abilities. No, that kind of practice, along with the outrageous makeup of ever other citizen she saw, was apparently the norm for where she was now.
What made it even worse was that she, too, had become victim of the freakish features that plagued everyone else in this world.
Using the little strength she currently possessed in her small form, Yoko scooted her bottom over towards Goro as much as she could, her short and stubby arms reaching out for the flippable screen that came with the almost vintage looking video camera.
Goro smiled brightly at her actions, not at all caring that she did't react once to his magical advances to amuse her, ⌊ ああ？ほしい見る? ⌉
Assisting her in her endeavors, he flipped the tiny screen over so that she would be able to see what the camera saw at the moment. Albeit tinier and a bit grainy, she was able to witness once more what it was about her that made her blend in with the crowd of a thousand abnormalities.
This face…was much different than the one she was so used to seeing.
Her dark eyes and equally dark hair. Her brown skin that came as heredity from her Latin American roots. They were all gone. Gone and exchanged for outlandish traits that would, of course, be considered normal here.
The hair was of a light blue hue, one reminiscent of an arctic sky and with long lashes to match. It was a lovely color, all things considered, but lacked the buoyancy that came with her head of thick curls she possessed in the before. Instead, it lay flat on top of her head, the short length emphasizing the roundness of her rosy cheeks and milky skin tone. The eyes, which were large and doe like, radiated a lapis blue and carefully scrutinized the part of her that made her feel the most uncomfortable: the fish scales that layered themselves on her skin.
Granted, they were small in size, and only really became noticeable under a certain light where they shimmered thoughtfully, their royal color glinting against her pale complexion. Still, she was made very aware of their existence across where her cheekbones would've been - she even found them on her shoulders and thighs when Goro bathed her - and just couldn't find it in herself to look away from the sight whenever she found her reflection.
It wasn't as if they made her face ugly. She actually found herself to be very charming and incredibly cute despite the unnatural hair color and lightened skin tone. In a few years, maybe she would actually consider herself to be a pretty little thing, were it not for those scales. Those distinctive scales that dominated her face in a way she would have preferred was left to whichever parent she inherited them from. And since Goro didn't seem to have any outward peculiarity, she could only assume it was her so-called mother she had to thank for such a feature.
The same woman who had died just one month before, leaving her to dwell on her insecurities on her own.
Although, despite these negative emotions circling her mind day by day, she still couldn't find herself to truly hate the woman who had passed. Not only did she not feel as if she had the right, but she also lacked the emotions needed to do so. Perhaps it was because of her disconnect from the body she inhabited now that resulted in the absence of her hatred. In her mind, the little infant looking at herself in a camera held by a lively father was not her. She was not this Japanese baby born into a world of misfits and ability induced citizens. What she was, and what she has been for the past fifteen years, was an American-born, Brazilian, teenager. She was a high schooler, just about to enter her sophomore year, and was the third child in a family of six. What she wasn't was this helpless creature dependent on a widower for survival. This infant was not her.
And yet, there were times when she felt unsure of herself and found her thoughts filling with the same question…
Who am I?
Was she the Brazilian-American teenager she remembered herself being? Of course! Maybe. No. She didn't know.
Was she the little Japanese girl, Juba Yoko, living in a city of powerful users? No. Yes. Maybe. She didn't know.
Who am I? I don't know.
I don't know.
I don't know.
I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW. I DON'T KNOW!
She didn't know who she was anymore.
Her inner emotions clamped down upon her chest, taking her heart and squeezing it roughly. Normally, she probably would have been able to handle such a feeling, hiding it from many people who dared to look at her and ask if anything was wrong. But, she wasn't in a place that was normal. And her infant body wasn't capable of handling the sudden feeling.
With her face scrunching up uncomfortably, her deep blue eyes glistened and watered until the first few tears ran down her round cheeks quickly. The more she stared at her reflection in the camera's screen, the more easily her tiny voice came up in small wails. Noticing this drastic change of events, Goro hurriedly turned off the large video camera and scooped her up in his arms.
No! This wasn't what she had wanted! She didn't want to be held or comforted or even touched by this strange man. She just wanted to go home! She wanted to be kept safe in the place she considered to be home!
But, all she could do was cry even harder against Goro's chest as she realized that she didn't even know where that was any longer.
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"Okay, Yoko-chan….after me, 後に繰り返して." Goro said next to her as she sat in her high chair, ⌊ パ - パ ⌉
Yoko stared at the man blankly for a moment before going back to amusing herself with the crayons that were spread before her in a vibrant rainbow. It had been a little over ten months since she's stayed in this new world and she was starting to comprehend some of the Japanese spoken to and around her every day.
She was able to clearly understand the simple words from the beginning - ⌊ いいえ ⌉ meant "no" while ⌊ はい ⌉ was equivalent to "yes" - though, the longer string of syllables and consonants took a bit more time to get. However, as time went on she began to piece together many other words and, by the time she entered the Spring of her first year, she was able to understand over two-thirds of the things being spoken to her, her mind putting two and two together for the rest she wasn't as sure about. She was even able to memorize the hiragana that came in the baby books read to her by Goro, and used as much of her coloring time as she could to practice writing the symbols until they became second nature to her.
Unfortunately, doing so also prompted her new father to believe that it was just about time for her to start saying her first words.
Hearing a sigh of exasperation, she looked up just in time to see Goro gently pulling her piece of hiragana scribbled parchment away from her and placing it on the kitchen table behind him, "No." He said firmly before trying to make her speak again, "いい加減にして, Yoko-chan. You can do it! パ - パ "
パ - パ
Pa - pa
Father
Not only were his attempts to make her speak troublesome, but it felt as though he was rubbing salt in the wound trying to force her to treat him as family.
Yoko ignored him flatly and went back to coloring multi-hued characters into the surface of her white high chair, not at all caring about her lack of canvas nor about the consequences of doing so.
"Yoko-chan~!" Goro cried in frustration at her response while drooping his head in defeat. It was obvious that she wasn't interested in his little speaking lesson.
Despite the fact that almost a year had gone by since her entrance into this bizarre Japan, she still felt an enormous sense of disconnect from her body. Not only did she not see the need or want in pursuing a bond with him, she simply couldn't see this man as her family when she already had one. She already had a father and a mother who wasn't dead. She had an older brother as well as an older sister. Hell, she was even an older sister herself! She already had her own family and she didn't need another one.
"I don't understand." Goro's voice came out questioningly as he lifted his head and looked behind him at her messy hiragana written paper on the table, "彼女がよくやりました. So why…?"
He looked back at her with eyes of hurt and an expression of unwarranted melancholy.
"Like me…does she not?"
Dammit.
Of all the sentences she could've understood almost perfectly, that one just had to be the first one to show itself. Goro was also starting to look like a kicked puppy with the gloom that resonated off of him in dark waves, making her feel guilty by the second.
Perhaps it wouldn't have been that bad if she allowed him to be indulged by her much more grown mind just this once? She wouldn't have been able to ignore him for much longer anyways as her window for baby talk would close just as quickly as it had arrived. With this new mindset, she let her crayons fall from her tiny hands and reached out towards the still sulking Goro to try and catch his attention.
"Mmmmm…G… …" Yoko spoke, testing out her new voice.
Well, it was nice that her vocal chords seemed to have been in line. Now, if only she was able to properly form the words that were on the tip of her tongue.
Immediately, Goro's face lit up in excitement at her efforts to communicate and he cheered her on with a wide smile of encouragement.
"Yes! 行く, Yoko-chan!" He encouraged, holding her hands that were still left reaching for him, "パ - パ !"
"Go…ooo…" She continued before finally spitting out, "Goro-san!"
If he hadn't been holding onto Yoko's hands in anticipation, Goro would no doubt have instantly fallen back against the kitchen table in a comedic manner. Instead, he threw his head back and cried out in ill humor at the name she chose to call him by, whining with invisible tears streaming down his face while he stared at her with a wounded expression.
"Noooooo, Yoko-chan. 'Goro-san' じゃない! パパです!"
She stared vacantly at the man who continued to emphasize the affectionate term used between a child and their father. While she did know that there might have been more than one way to address one's dad in Japanese - she knew there were many different ways in both Portuguese as well as English - she wasn't all too familiar with the terms to use them on Goro. However, even if she was, she still wasn't willing to go as far as to call someone else that wasn't her real father from the before a loving name like "Papa".
Now silent after accomplishing one of the many milestones of her infancy, Yoko withdrew her hands from Goro's palms and went right back to her crayons and hiragana practice. Maybe this time, she would use a lovely orange. She's had enough of blue to last a lifetime.
"Hm? Wait a minute…" Goro suddenly spoke up, making her raise her head once again in confusion.
⌊ 僕の名前…知っている如何? ⌉
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Well, so much for thinking she was finally starting to get the hang of the whole Japanese thing.
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Tumblr is welcomebackyoko~